Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Kathy Platoni COL (RET), US Army.
Hi Dr. Kathy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Katherine Theresa Platoni, Psy.D., DAAPM, FAIS
Clinical Psychologist
Colonel, Retired, US Army
Dayton SWAT
Member, Dayton Fraternal Order of Police Association
Member, Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame
Member, Greene County Hall of Fame
Director of Support Services, Fraternal Order of Police, Ohio Lodge 117
Editor, Combat Stress Magazine
Dr. Kathy Platoni has been a practicing clinical psychologist for 43 years and maintains her private practice in Centerville, Ohio. In service of her country and as an Army Reserve clinical psychologist, she has deployed on four occasions in time of war. Dr. Platoni served as commander of the 1972nd Medical Detachment (Combat Stress Control) at Guantanamo Bay Cuba from 2003-2004, where combat stress control became a critical element of the Joint Task Force mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Global War on Terrorism. Having volunteered to return to active duty within weeks of her redeployment from Joint Task Force-GTMO, Dr. Platoni deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, holding the position of Deputy Commander of Clinical Services for the 55th Medical Company (CSC) in Baghdad and seven subsequent locations, finally as Officer in Charge of Team Ar Ramadi, situated the seat of the insurgency and during times of intensive combat. At the invitation of the 3rd Brigade Commander, 3rd Infantry Division upon the conclusion of her tour of duty in the wartime theater, Dr. Platoni reported to the Home of the Infantry, Fort Benning, Georgia for an additional six month mission in order to provide for the reintegration services of the 2nd Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment due to elevated numbers of psychological casualties among combat arms soldiers. Dr. Platoni was last deployed to the combat theater of Afghanistan from 2009 through late 2010 with the 467th Medical Detachment (Combat Stress Control) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, serving as Clinical Advisor for the medical detachment and Officer in Charge of Team Wilson, Kandahar Province, and Camp Phoenix in Kabul, Afghanistan. She was assigned to the 1493rd Medical Detachment (CSC) in Cary, North Carolina until the time of her retirement. As a survivor of the tragic Ft. Hood Massacre in November of 2009, she is an ardent activist for reconsideration of this shooting incident as an act of terrorism to assure that the wounded and the families of the deceased are awarded long overdue benefits and was very instrumental in the awarding of the Purple Heart Medal to the Fort Hood wounded and to the families of those who lost their lives on that tragic day.
Dr. Platoni is a graduate of Hobart and William Smith Colleges (B.S., 1974), the University of Miami (M.Ed., 1975), and the School of Professional Psychology of Nova University (now Nova Southeastern University) in Davie, Florida (Psy.D., 1985). Subsequent to the conclusion of her doctoral studies under the auspices of the United States Army’s Health Professionals Scholarship Program, she completed her internship on active duty Army status at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas in 1984. From 1984 through 1987, she served as Chief of Psychology at DeWitt Army Community Hospital, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. She completed her post-doctoral residencies at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Malcom Grow United States Air Force Medical Center at Andrews Air Force Base in 1987. During her more than four decades of both active and Army Reserve status, including a six month tour of duty during Operation Desert Storm, Dr. Platoni developed combat stress control, debriefings and crisis management programs utilized throughout the U.S. Army. She held the position of Army Reserve Clinical Psychology Consultant to the Chief, Medical Service Corp (Chief Psychologist for the Army Reserve pro bono) for six years and is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College. Dr. Platoni retired from the US Army with the rank of Colonel in October of 2013.
Dr. Platoni maintained an appointment as Assistant Clinical Professor with the School of Professional Psychology, Wright State University, until adjunct program closure in 2018. She is a skilled hypnotherapist and possesses expertise in the sub-specialty areas of behavioral medicine and the treatment of chronic pain and chronic, debilitating, and terminal illnesses. Due to her father’s exposure to radiation during the bombing of Nagasaki during World War II, she was born with congenital defects that have required extensive maxillofacial (bone) reconstructive and bone grafting procedures. No stranger to chronic pain herself, Dr. Platoni has undergone 72 major and minor surgeries over the course of the last 40 years to correct these defects, a great majority of them with hypnosis as the sole anesthetic. One of her major plastic surgeries was featured in a segment of ABC News “20/20” in 1999. She is in the process of completing a series of scholarly articles on this subject and has also published in a number of professional and lay journals on topics relating to Gulf War Syndrome, the psychological aftermath of the events of “9/11”, PTSD, war trauma, officer involved shootings, all things related to police work and first responders, surviving mass shootings, and professional/medical ethics. Two landmark books, written and edited by Dr. Raymond Scurfield and Dr. Platoni on the subject of war trauma, Expanding the Circle of Healing~Trauma in Its Wake and Healing War Trauma~A Handbook of Creative Approaches, were published in 2012. Dr. Platoni co-authored a third book, Hobart and William Smith Colleges’ Legacy of Military Service (Anderegg, Norvell, Woodward, and Platoni) unveiled in 2022. She was awarded Diplomate status by the American Academy of Pain Management and holds an appointment as a Fellow of the American Institute of Stress. She was awarded distinguished membership in the Institute of Traumatic Stress Board of Scientific and Professional Advisors in 2013. In addition, Dr. Platoni holds professional memberships in the Ohio Psychological Association, the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, the Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, the Dayton Area Psychological Association, and International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. She has served in the position as Editor of the Combat Stress Magazine since 2014. Her current co-authorship, along with two other survivors of the Fort Hood Massacre, promises to be another landmark work; the true facts and tell-all book regarding the actual facts of the Fort Hood Massacre, hidden from the American public for now-15 years.
Since the “9/11” tragedy and attacks on the United States, Dr. Platoni voluntarily deployed to New York City on two occasions in order to provide disaster mental
health and critical incident stress debriefing services to members of the New York City Police Department. In 2017, she deployed to hurricane-ravaged Florida to provide disaster mental health services with the American Red Cross and in May and June of 2019, in support of tornado relief in the aftermath of 15 tornadoes that devastated the area of Southwest Ohio in which she resides. She currently serves as the Dayton Police Department SWAT psychologist and Mental Health Advisor to the Dayton Police Department Hostage Negotiation Team.
As a nationally renowned expert in the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Dr. Platoni has been featured in Fox News, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, US News and World Report, AP News, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Washington Post, NPR Radio, Stars and Stripes, San Antonio Express News, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, The Ohio Psychologist, the Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, Military Times, and The National Psychologist.
For her professional contributions to the field of psychology and decades of humanitarian service, Dr. Platoni was awarded a lifetime achievement award by her alma mater, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, in 2008 and was selected for the very prestigious Dayton’s Ten Top Women Award for the Class of 2012. She was awarded the Legacy Award for community service and volunteerism in the Southwest Ohio area in April of 2013. She was awarded the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious service by the United States Army on 19 July 2014. Dr. Platoni was the recipient of the 2016 IVAT Returning Veterans Resiliency in Response to Trauma Award. This award is given by the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT) to a veteran who has experienced specific trauma in war and whose efforts and advocacy have had a notably restorative impact on a traumatized population. Dr. Platoni was inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame in November of 2019 for her numerous contributions to the Veteran and law enforcement communities. In November of 2020, Dr. Platoni was a recipient of the Ford Oval of Honor Award, again, for now more than four decades of military and tireless community service. Honored once again by the Dayton, Ohio community, Dr. Platoni was selected as the recipient of the 2020, 2021, 2022 2023, 2024, and 2025 Best of Dayton Psychologists, entering her into the Dayton Business Hall of Fame for six consecutive years. Dr. Platoni was inducted into the Greene County Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame in April of 2022 and the Dayton, Ohio Fraternal Order of Police Association in May of 2024.
COL Platoni was retired from the 4th Civil Support and Sustainment Brigade, Ohio Military Reserve, in September of 2021 after six years of dedicated service as the Brigade Psychologist, her 40th year of military service.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been a long road home due to 4 deployments in time of war, but restarting my practice is the least of it. I served overseas during the Global War on Terrorism for 6 years and dealt with unimaginable horrors, as all deployed Soldiers do. Our old selves aren’t hanging in the closet when we redeploy. I am also a survivor of the Fort Hood Massacre of 5 November 2025. Survivor guilt is a daily battle.
We’ve been impressed with Dr. Kathy Platoni, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Much of this is covered in my bio sketch.
I specialize in the treatment of trauma and chronic pain. I currently only treat first responders, active duty military personnel , and Veterans. I also serve on Dayton SWAT as their psychological SWAT “doc,” am the Editor of Combat Stress Magazine, and serve as the Clinical Director of the SW Ohio Critical Incident Stress Management Team.
What sets me apart is that I am working long past when most of my peers have retired. I have endless amounts of energy to treat those who take care of the rest of us, to continue to write profusely about the costs of war, and the war on the streets as this applies to all first responders, and the terrible impact of the Fort Hood Massacre. I lecture all over the United States about these issues. What I am most proud of is that my patients entrust in me their innermost in order that I can try to help them change their lives to something better than the suffering and struggling that led them to me. It is a honor to serve these populations….the most deserving. That I get to treat heroes is a gift of untold proportions.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Bad luck…..more than 6 figures worth of property damages over the last 6 years to my business property from incompetent contractors, multiple sewage explosions (and tolerating no bathroom for 18 weeks), three foot floods, flying vehicles in my parking lot, etc. Then there is undergoing 73 surgeries since 1983. It has been a very long road. All of this does, however, sometimes has great entertainment value. Few can believe the fecal matter show my life has become.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.drplatoni.com
